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UNSPOKEN

Ruby Lee Becker is only 10 years old in 1935 when she sits at the double funeral for her grandmother, Alma, and baby sister, Nell, both of whom succumbed on the same day to the deadly dust plague. Ruby’s mother, Willa Mae, is frozen with grief. Just days later, Ruby falls ill with “dust pneumonia” […]

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THE POETRY CONTEST

The writer presents a bold experiment: a poetic dialogue between himself and an AI tool (ChatGPT), which he calls “Adam” and credits as a co-author. Amid politically and ethically charged debates about the use of AI in writing, Ditson steps into this gray area with curiosity and care. Rather than framing artificial intelligence as a […]

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EYE IN THE BLUE BOX

After falling asleep one evening, Korean American James Mun is seemingly transported to a surreal world. But this isn’t a dream; it’s “the Flowering,” a dimension some people access via sleep. After meeting Bloom, a giant, lovable blue wolf who instantly takes to him, James joins Bloom’s Crew Blue, consisting of E (the leader), Honey, […]

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All Through the Crown

The author uses the structure of the classic children’s song “The Wheels on the Bus” to introduce the idea of chakra and its flow. Beginning with the overall energy in the body going “round and round,” each subsequent verse focuses on a different part, moving from the bottom up. Readers are first encouraged to focus […]

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DAEMON PROTOCOL

In the near future, Daniel Bennett is the developer of an AI system called Castor, and he’s the creative force behind startup Promethean Systems. He creates Castor to recognize patterns in medical data, and it has the potential to save patients and insurers hundreds of millions of dollars and prevent needless deaths. For Daniel, the […]

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WE BURY NOTHING

Keira is attending a prestigious museum summer program at Camp 43 in the small Canadian town of Westonville. Her winning project and the focus of her summer involves solving the murder of Erich Stein, a German POW from World War II who was held at the camp. When Keira meets her fellow participants, she feels […]

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COMMUNITY SNOWMAN

A brown-skinned youngster tumbles out of bed, sees flurries of white from the window, and excitedly rushes outdoors. Soon the child has begun to build a snowman, with other kids joining in to help push the large balls of snow. When they need assistance to lift the head into place, a newcomer—a teenager or perhaps […]

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THE TURKEY IS NOT THE ONLY THING GETTING ROASTED

“Thanksgiving is not just about gratitude,” the author writes in the book’s opening lines, continuing, “It’s about gravy, grudges, [and] group texts gone wrong.” With a chapter dedicated to each state (plus Washington, D.C.), Okine offers readers 51 short stories poking fun at America’s “most chaotic, carb-loaded, emotionally layered holiday.” None of the stories are […]

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THE LAST DEATH OF THE YEAR

Everyone who takes up residence at Nash Athanasiou’s House of Perpetual Welcome on Liakada Bay has agreed to forgive everyone else for all the past misdeeds they admit. But someone seems to be piling up current misdeeds as well, as Poirot acknowledges when Catchpool presses him on the reason they’ve come. Someone, it seems, has […]

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PERFECTLY HUGO

Enid, who’s nearly 70, is no stranger to grief, having lost her brother at a young age, but nothing prepares her for the death of her husband, Hugo.The two built a quiet life together, marked by pleasant morning coffees and strolls through the local grocery store. As they grew older, however, they came face-to-face with […]